BECKY WAS HERE (part 1)

Ok, where to begin.  My sister Becky came to visit for Lunar New Year (January 15th-27th) and we had a really great time together.  But I was too busy to blog, as you probably noticed.  Then I had to get ready for school again, since I didn't do any work over the break.  Plus, I've been in a little bit of a funk lately - taking Becky to the airport made me much more cognizant of the fact that it will be 3-4 more months before I can come back and see all my peeps and eat my favorite foods.  Add that to the fact that it's winter, I'm not eating enough vegetables or getting much for exercise, and voila - complete lack of motivation.  Hopefully getting back into my yoga routine and picking up some vitamins will help.  And of course it helps when y'all skype or write to me - thanks!

But, anyway, it's catchup time now - I'll just start at the beginning and see how many days it takes to finish.  (Some of these photos are Becky's, BTW.)

So, Arrival Day.  Because of a delay in Chicago, Becky's flight did not arrive at 6:45pm, as planned.  And due to a number of other complications, that meant I spent more than several hours in the HK airport, doing work and waiting for her to arrive.  Her flight finally got in around 11pm, and by the time she got through customs and got her bags it was after midnight.  So, since the train was no longer running we took a cab to the ferry terminal and then had to wait again for the next available ride at 2:30am.  While we were catching up and waiting, this dude comes up to us and starts chatting away in Cantonese.  I mean like a 10 minute monologue.  I tried to indicate via my gesture system that we didn't understand him.  He would nod and then just keep going.  After several rounds of this I finally tried a couple of my memorized phrases, like "I don't speak Cantonese", and "no thanks".  Still kept talking to us - on and on.  Finally I just decided enough was enough and said "bye bye" and we walked to another part of the terminal.  This worked for about 10 minutes and then he came back over to us and began again.  Dude!  If only I'd had my favorite insult phrase memorized!  (I've since learned it, just in case.)  After another long spiel, he got out a little notebook and it seemed like he wanted my phone number.  No doubt so we could continue these thrilling conversations.  I just kept shaking my head in the NO direction until finally he wrote this out and gave it to me and finally left for good.  So, on the plus side, I can say that I've gotten a phone number from a man for the first time in my life.  Too bad I didn't want it.  At all.

Finally we got on our ferry, took the hour-long ride back and walked to my place.  Got in around 4am and were greeted by about 20 cockroaches when I tried to show Becky where my shelf was in the kitchen.  Awesome way to start a trip, right? 
Luckily she's a great sport.

I had to be up and ready for class at 10, so it was a groggy morning to say the least.  Long day.  But on the way home, Beth and I had the pleasure of riding in this decorated bus.  They were getting a head start on LNY and we thought it was the greatest.

So that first day, Becky slept and hung out in the apartment.  But the next day she came and met me in Taipa after I finished work and we wandered around Old Taipa Village.   She really dug these trees - they grow all over the place here.  I think they're called Indian Rubber trees, although we've seen different names posted in different places.  I didn't want to tell her that I call them armpit trees, because I think the characteristic roots that hang down resemble the hair of same. 

Angie spent LNY in Malaysia with her family, so we wanted to go out on the town before she left.  Here we are at a place Carol took us to in the neighborhood.  I thought it was tasty, as always, but Becky was a little put off by the fried chunks of fish - skin, bones and head included.  :)  Kind of intimidating after being spoiled by Dad with perfectly cleaned walleye fillets all those years.

Angie and Beth, of course

Becky, Hermey the Elf, and Carol

Afterward we went for dessert at the IFT, which is a school for hospitality students. 
They have a very nice hotel and restaurant - my folks will be staying there in March.

Becky got the rhubarb/berry crumble with ice cream.

I got some kind of fancy cookie/mango pudding combo.  It was really good.

That's Carol on the side, pretending to cut off my stupid hair.

The next day I was on vacation - yay!  First stop, the A-Ma temple.  This is my first set of photos with my new camera.  Not totally familiar with all the options yet, but so far I'm quite pleased with it.

This photo and the one above it are taken from opposing viewpoints.  I had the idea to do a series like this a while ago, but hadn't gotten around to doing any shooting until now.  This shot is part of the Maritime Museum and that's mainland China in the background. 

People doing their incense thing at the temple.

Next stop - Macau Tower.
(We went to the Maritime Museum too, but I don't have any good photos from there.)

Above and left of my right boot, you can see the square platform where the bungee jumpers land - far below.

The view of Macau.

And now the right side.  That hill you see in the distance is Guia Hill - it's very near my apartment.  To the right you can also see the Macau Science Center. 

I used it to check out my zoom...
Not bad, but the color of the glass sort of detracts.
That gold lady is the Kun Iam statue.  Love her!

They have a nice cafe up there and so Becky and I stopped for cookies and tea and watched a couple of bungee jumpers fall past.  A very pleasant experience, except that the lady behind the counter was playing the Beach Boys the entire time.  I refuse to believe she could actually be a fan.

We saw these fools too - they're called "Sky Walkers", harhar.  They just get tethered up and walk around outside on the ledge.  Talk about non-committal.  ;)

Becky wanted to get a picture of the ugly baby dragon lanterns all over the city.

Do you see how she's dressed?  It was super nice the first few days she arrived.  Make note of that when you see how she's dressed next week.

I figured I better get one too, since they are my kindred.  But really, could they be any uglier/stupider?  It's a dragon, for God's sake.  Arguably the coolest mythical creature around.  And you do this to it.

And, I'm proud to say, we had a completely successful gweilo hotpot adventure.  We went to Little Fat Lamb, and I'd planned ahead on a previous visit and marked all the items I liked in English on an extra menu so I could order them again.  With a some extra help from Beth's knowledge of Chinese characters, it worked!  Delicious veggie-filled success!!!
(In case you're wondering, we got sliced beef, lotus root, daikon, noodles, mushrooms and greens.  YUM!)

Ok, that's round 1.  More to come when I have the energy.

(Also, since I'm now writing less frequently, I wanted to mention again that you can put an RSS feed on your homepage if you want, which will notify you when I have a new post.  Just click the "subscribe in a reader" link at the top of the right sidebar.)